The tracking of lane markings is important for various kinds of driver assistance systems in modern motor vehicles. For example, a lane departure warning (LDW) can use the tracking of lane markings to determine the position of the vehicle within the lane and emits a warning signal if it gets too close to the edge of the lane. Lane keeping support (LKS) systems are also known. Such system supports the driver with keeping to the present lane by continuous steering, braking and/or drive train intervention.
Status estimators are used for approximate projection of a system status in the future, and are known in the field. Specifically, a status estimator used with the method according to the invention has a predictor-corrector structure.
In particular, in the case of simultaneous monitoring of a plurality of lanes, it is difficult to correctly detect all lane markings which are present in the image. This is because there are image objects which meet the detection criterion, but do not constitute valid lane markings. For example, crash barriers or tar seams can be detected as lane markings and falsely tracked. Erroneous tracking of this kind can considerably impair the performance of a driver assistance system.